We can thank Todd Akin for a once-in-a-lifetime experience: Houston Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee and conservative commentator Ann Coulter are on the same side of an issue.

Appearing on MSNBC, Jackson Lee described the Missouri Republican congressman’s comment that rape victims are very unlikely to get pregnant as “an egregious and insulting and catastrophic statement.”

The Houston Democrat said Akin could be forgiven as a person — but not as a public official.

Timely book: Ann Coulter’s “How to Talk to a Liberal (If You Must)”

Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (AP photo)

“For anyone to say that a woman can shut this thing now” and avoid pregnancy after a rape is “not eligible or competent to serve,” she said.

Ann Coulter, appearing on Fox News’ Hannity show, agreed that “everyone” in the Missouri GOP wants Akin to drop out of the state’s U.S. Senate race. Akin won a hotly contested three-way primary on Aug. 7 against a candidate backed by Missouri Right-to-Life leaders and another supported by Sarah Palin.

“This selfish swine is going to hurt the Republican Party,” she said.

But good conservatives have nothing to fear: Ms. Coulter has not gone soft on the left. She has tough words for Democrats who are encouraging Akin to stick it out because Republican voters have spoken and he won his party’s primary fair and square.

“If I can put the liberal hypocrisy aside for a moment, this is a problem,” she emphasized. “This is why I think Republicans need to stage a write-in campaign.”

It worked for Lisa Murkowski two years ago in Alaska. This year, it could work, she said, for a prominent Missouri Republican like former Sen. Kit Bond.